Embodiments of the invention relate generally to handheld electronic devices and more specifically to a touch interface for such a device that reconfigures in response to the way a user operates the device.
Portable handheld computing devices such as cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), audio players, cameras, global positioning satellite (GPS) devices, games, etc., are more commonly using a touch interface. In a touch interface, the user is presented with images of controls such as buttons, icons, links, sliders, bars, boxes, etc. The user is able to manipulate the controls by touching the display screen on which the controls are displayed. Typically a user holds the device in one hand and uses a finger on the other hand to tap or slide a control on the screen. However, often a user may try to operate the device in a different manner, such as one-handed operation where the thumb of the holding hand is used to operate the controls. In such one-handed operation it may be difficult or impossible to operate the controls easily.